Little Hikers

On Sunday, the day after the triathlon, we hiked a loop around Swallow Falls State Park.  Just gorgeous.  It helped that fall had sprung up the mountains: leaves were turning red and orange and falling around us and the air was cool and crisp.  It surprised all of us that the kids were such troopers.  Whining was minimal, they walked most of the time, and they loved wading around in the water.  You know, I really thought we had turned the corner on this hot, crazy summer, but right now I'm hiding out in the air conditioning because it's 95 degrees outside.  No fleece and hot chocolate for us!  

The Familiar

Whew.  The world is back on its axis for us...triathlons have resumed!  We packed it up and headed for the mountains of western Maryland this weekend so Christopher could race in the Savageman triathlon.  The race had a couple of things going for it.  First, it's in a BEAUTIFUL lake resort town, Deep Creek Lake.  We rented an awesome house and made a big weekend trip of it.  Also, the race is billed as the most difficult half-ironman race ANYWHERE.  EVER.  IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.  Okay, to me this does not belong in the 'plus' column when evaluating a race, but to those crazy triathletes it seems important.  And Christopher decided to do the Olympic distance which was really, really tough but not the potentially life-threatening ordeal that the longer distance claims to be.  He even ran into a college fraternity brother and another classmate in the transition area before the race.  They haven't seen each other in 15 years, but there they were, racing side by side and all finishing within minutes of each other.  It's fun to be close to home again.  And oh yeah, Christopher had a great race...an awesome swim as usual (third out of the water in his age group!) and totally held his own on the bike and run.  I could tell how happy he was to be back doing the sport he really loves.  It's fun to be getting back to normal.

Awesome swim!

Bike was tough, but he's smiling.  The people behind him are laughing at the kids jumping and screaming "Go Daddy Go!"

Poppa endures "beauty shop" while waiting at the finish line.

Great job!  

Family Adventure at Dutch Wonderland

Through some sort of scheduling miracle and a whole bunch of generosity from Christopher's parents, the entire Greer clan (well, brother/Uncle Tim was sadly missing since he was out on Navy business) reunited for an adventure at Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA.  This place is legendary (Christopher went many times when he was a kid) and every bit lives up to the hype.  It was MADE for kids Millie and Simon's age.  We all had a great day together...I especially loved watching cousins Millie and Kaitlin run all over the park hand in hand.  They even buoyed each other's courage enough to ride the roller coaster with their Dads (bit of a nightmare for my risk-adverse Mils).  I wish I would have captured more photos of the fun, but we've got lots of memories to keep with us.

And we're off... 

Simon and Mils with Mom and Uncle Joshua on our first "ride".  We started them off easy with the giant slide.

Oblivious to the horror that awaits them on the roller coaster.

Simon and Sydney are ready for take-off

Mils and Kaitlin

Simon's favorite ride, which he named "cake truck" (see previous post re: birthday cake debacle)

The highlight of the day, I think, was bumper car wars.  Uncle Joshua and Mils vs. Kaitlin and Christopher.  Surprisingly, no one was injured in the brother vs. brother match-up.

Overcoming her fear of mascots, one purple dinosaur at a time.  Such a fun day.

First Day!

Millie started her new preschool yesterday, and from what very little conversation we could get out of her, she seemed to really like it.  We chose an adorable little school about 20 minutes north of us (if I can get us organized in the mornings, I think I might really enjoy this time in the car with the kids and my beloved to-go coffee) that happens to be in a Nazarene church.  The school seems to have a balanced mix of free play time, 'academics' (letters, numbers, the basics), character development, bible stories and a little chapel time in the sanctuary once a week for all of the kids.  Our new fall routine has begun!

Wait, Mom.  I want to go to school too.

And then there was this...

SOCCER!  We had our first practice last night.  You know how happy this makes me, to have kids playing soccer in the fall.  A total dream come true.  Now look at that photo..there are TWO sets of shin guards and cleats.  Simon, barely two years old, gets to play too.  One of the guys on staff at the JAG school runs a little league for the kids of the faculty and students.  It's all volunteer and super low-key.  Christopher is even one of the coaches for Simon's "team".  We made a trek out to Play It Again Sports, got the kids outfitted in he proper gear, and hit the field.

Unfortunately for Millie, it seems like the thought of soccer practice was better than the reality of it.  I think she was a bit overwhelmed by the 105 kids running all over the place PLUS finding out that Dad wasn't going to be out running around with her since he was off with Si.  So we're going to talk through some issues, keep it very casual and fun, and see how it goes from here.

Aren't those shoes the cutest things you've ever seen?